Rewritten
by TailsDoll13
Summary: And as they embraced, Nico swore to himself, that he would never separate himself from Will again...Or, an AU in which Nico and Will are already dating before the war with Gaea. One-shot. Happy extremely late birthday to biancadiangeno! Thanks to I Am Shibuyas Composer, ghostystarr, annabethisterrified, and cherryandsisters for being inspiring and great friends!


**Hey happy super late birthday Stormy I meant to finish this sooner but it got out of hand!**

 **Please enjoy this AU fic!**

 **Also I write Will as a transgender boy and if you don't know what that means it'll be explained in the fic!**

* * *

 **I.**

There was a strange feeling in the pit of Nico's stomach, one that he couldn't exactly identify.

It had started when Percy and Annabeth had announced their relationship. Of course, Nico was happy for them. He had to be. After all, they were...friends of some sort. And friends were supposed to be happy for each other over these types of things.

But that didn't stop Nico from feeling jealous of Annabeth. Something lingered in his heart for Percy Jackson, the black-haired, green-eyed, son of the sea God, a something that he hadn't quite been able to shake for nearly two years. He hated that something, absolutely hated it, and he wished that it would disappear.

He tried what he could. He avoided Percy, tried to shift all of the blame on him. It wasn't hard. Percy could have easily prevented the death of Bianca, but he hadn't. Yet nothing could change the feelings that Nico felt.

When that didn't work, Nico tried another tactic: taking Percy as his own. He tried his best to impress the son of Poseidon, even though he nearly got Percy locked away in the Underworld forever. But soon, his heart grew tired of it, and Nico's feelings began to retreat.

Percy was clearly Annabeth's, it was obvious to everyone. He had been ever since they met. It just took Nico a little too long to realize that.

He wasn't very happy when he did realize. He summoned many skeletons and sparred with them to release his emotions, when no one was looking. In the battle of Manhattan, he threw everything that he could into fighting every monster that he encountered. Nico let his anger flow into his sword, and his sword respond with vicious uppercuts and stabs. It felt good.

After the battle, Nico realized that he didn't feel as strongly towards Percy as he had before. It was a weird feeling, to have your emotions towards someone suddenly change. Unfortunately, Nico had an idea as to why they had changed.

Will Solace, top healer of the infirmary, all-around good guy, and now the head counselor of the Apollo cabin, was most likely to blame.

Will had been one of the first campers that Nico had been introduced to when he first arrived at camp. He had made a bit of an impression on Nico at time, mostly because, despite being Nico's age, he had been at the camp for a very long time. He never said how long, but judging by all of the beads that he wore on his necklace, it was a very long time indeed.

The two boys had become friends-good ones. Nico felt bad for having to leave him after he found out about Bianca's death.

The year after that, after the Battle of the Labyrinth, they had picked things up. Will was still shaken up over Lee, of course, and Nico couldn't stay for long again. He was tempted to, but at the time his heart was still enamored by Percy. Will made him promise to try to keep in touch, however, and Nico did try.

Over the past year, Will would Iris-message Nico, mostly to see how he was doing. At first, it had been annoying, but over time Nico had come to appreciate it. Nobody else seemed to care enough for him to do this. They were all too scared of the son of Hades.

As the messages started to become more and more frequent, so did Nico's thoughts about Will. It distracted him from Percy, long enough for Nico to finally be able to break free from them. It was a good thing, since it saved Nico's heart from being absolutely shattered when Percy and Annabeth finally started going out. As it was, part of it did break, but not to the point of physical pain whenever he thought about them.

But now, a lot of his thoughts were about Will. They were random thoughts, for the most part, but it still didn't change the subject matter, or what Nico knew was happening.

He was starting to crush on Will Solace.

 **II.**

It was nighttime in late August. Next week, campers would be packing up and going straight home. It had been ten days since the Second Titan War had finished, but that didn't deter anyone from the nightly camp fire.

Percy had offered for Nico to sit with him and Annabeth, and Nico surprised even himself when he said yes. He knew that it would be a bit awkward, what with his still-hidden feelings and then being together, but he was hoping that it wouldn't be so bad. Not to mention that Will would be there, but he tried to ignore that.

The evening hadn't been so bad. Percy and Annabeth didn't spend the entire time making out (but there was a stolen kiss or twenty-five or so here and there), and engaged him in conversations. Annabeth suggested more designs for the Hades cabin, and Percy tried to get him into a marshmallow-eating contest. When Nico declined, Percy just shrugged and challenged the Stoll brothers instead. The result was a marshmallow war that left the stumps surrounding them very white and sticky.

Throughout the entire event, Nico had a hard time ignoring Will. He sat with all of his siblings and sang along with all of the songs, sometimes helping the younger ones. He was smiling, helpful, and kind-everything that a head counselor should be. Sometimes, when Nico glanced at Will out of the corner of his eye, he could've sworn that Will was looking back at him. But that didn't make any sense. Why look at Nico?

Afterwards, Percy offered to walk both Annabeth and Nico back to their cabins. Nico tried to say no once again, but Percy put up a fuss and Nico had to agree.

As the trio started heading back towards the circle of cabins, someone cleared their throat behind them. Nico turned, and his heart started to thump faster and faster.

Will stood there, nervously fidgeting with something in his hand. "Uh, hey, guys."

"Hey, Will!" Annabeth greeted. "What's up!"

"Well, I was wondering if I could talk to Nico for a second."

Nico's eyebrows raised in surprise, and he was glad that the dark night hid what he was sure was a blush on his cheeks. Percy looked from Nico to Will, who had glanced away. "If he wants to, of course."

"Um, yes, I-of course," Nico stammered. Annabeth looked at him, surprised.

Will perked up visibly. "Really! That's great!"

Annabeth smiled, a knowing look on her face, although Nico wasn't sure why. "Well, me and Percy will be leaving you two then. Come on, Seaweed Brain."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Percy teased as he and Annabeth walked off, leaving Nico and Will in the silence.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke a word. Apprehension thumped in Nico's chest. Why did Will want to talk to him? Had Nico done something wrong? Did Will guess his feelings for him?

Finally, Will broke it. "Do you...want to walk to your cabin or mine?"

"Yours," Nico managed to answer.

"Okay." Will started to walk, and Nico followed him.

They walked to the Apollo cabin in silence, and Nico was sure that Will could hear his pounding heart with every step he took. His hands clenched and unclenched, and his breath sounded uneven. Why had he ever agreed to this?

Finally, they stopped outside of the Apollo cabin, and Will turned to face Nico. In the glow of the lantern hanging outside of the window, Nico realized with a jolt that Will's face was flushed red.

"Okay, Nico." Will sighed. "You're probably going to hate me for this, and it may seem like I'm forcing myself onto you, but I have to do this."

"Do what?" Nico asked, crossing his arms.

Will glanced down at his hands, and Nico realized that there was a slip of paper in them. Now he was really surprised. Had Will memorized something for him?

"Okay, okay. So, there's a ritual for new Apollo head counselors, where they have to come clean about something to someone. Which is basically telling someone the truth. Because our dad..." Will gestured. "You know..."

"Is the god of truth?" Nico supplied.

Will nodded. "Yeah, that. This can be anyone, but the campers in the cabin get to choose who the person is. The new head counselor gets no say in who it is whatsoever. Which, in some cases, isn't a good thing."

"What are you trying to say here?"

"I have to tell...someone...the truth."

Realization dawned on Nico. Will had to tell the truth to someone, and he was telling him all this...His heart was pounding even faster now. What was Will going to do?

Will took a deep breath. "Nico di Angelo," he began. "I literally have no idea when it started, but one day-Oh, my gods." He buried his face in his hands. "I-I can't do this."

"Just get to the point, Solace," Nico grumbled, although his palms were starting to get sweaty.

Will groaned, then mumbled something incoherent.

Nico blinked. "What was that?"

"Will you go out on a date with me?"

Nico's eyes widened. "Did you just..."

Will groaned again. "My siblings knew that I have a crush on you, so they said that I have to confess it for the ritual. I understand if you hate me now-I mean, I don't even know if you're gay too, so if you're not then this just got really awkward-and I'd kinda hate me too-"

"Hold up." Nico held out a hand to stop Will. His head was beginning to reel. "You're gay?"

Will looked up at him. "Uh, kinda. I like both boys and girls."

"And-And nobody-Nobody has a problem with this?"

"In camp? No."

Nico was totally confused. "I thought it wasn't-it's not safe to admit that."

Will blinked. "What? What do you mean? It's perfectly fine." Then his eyes widened. "Oh, right! You told me-you're from the forties, right?"

Nico nodded.

Will laughed. "Whoops, right. Yeah, I forgot about that, sorry." He cringed. "Ah, crap, that just made things even more awkward."

"No, it's just-" Nico had no idea what to say now, except for one word. "Yes."

"Uh, yes what?" Will's brow furrowed together in confusion. "Yes, it's awkward? Yes, it's alright?"

Nico couldn't believe what he was about to do, but he was going to do it anyways. "Yes, as in the date."

Will stared at him, before his jaw dropped. "You-Are you saying yes?"

Nico nodded, his face feeling like it was on fire.

Will stated at him again, before he whooped and pumped his fist up in the air. "Yes! Oh my gods, yes! You said yes! This is-This is amazing!"

Nico laughed. "Aren't you happy?"

"Oh, come on, I'm guessing that you're happy too," Will teased.

A loud popping noise suddenly burst from the Apollo cabin, and both boys jumped. "ALEX!" many people shouted.

"You weren't suppose to set that off until he came in here!" a girl scolded.

"Oh, sure, blame me. After all I've done for you?" Another voice snapped back sarcastically.

Will winced. "I'm sorry, but my siblings seem to be getting kinda agitated. I need to go..."

"Oh. Okay." Nico was disappointed, but Will did have a point. Plus, curfew was coming up, so both of them would've had to go anyways.

"So, I was thinking...Maybe next Saturday? Some of the other year-rounders want to go to the mall then. Maybe a movie?"

"Sure," Nico agreed. "That sounds good."

Will smiled at him. "Great! Good night, Nico."

"Good night."

Will walked up the steps to the Apollo cabin, looking back to wave at him. Nico waved back. Will grinned and opened the door, shutting it and closing it behind him.

Thus began their relationship.

 **III.**

"Hey, Will?"

"Mm?"

Nico swallowed. "Can I...ask you something?"

"Sure."

Now it was mid-September. The first date at the mall had gone fairly well, and Nico was surprised that both he and Will wanted to continue these dates. Right now, they were at the pier near the lake. Naiads splashed around in the water before them, and both boys had scooted back as to avoid their splashes.

"Can we keep..." Nico gestured toward both him and Will. "...this a secret?"

Will raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask? It's not like anyone will judge you, you know that now."

Nico sighed. "I know, but it's just that...I'm not exactly comfortable with being 'out' yet. Maybe there's not a lot of prejudice in the camp, but there could still be a few campers that aren't supporters of this stuff. Not to mention the mortal world."

Will was silent for a while, before he nodded. "Yeah, I understand. And you're right, some of the campers can still be biased. But that's mostly the newer ones, especially the ones with religious backgrounds that were raised to believe that we're commuting 'sins.' However, if you really want to be quiet about it, we can do that."

Nico looked up at Will. "You're not mad?"

The blonde boy shook his head. "No, of course not. I'll try and respect you and your wishes as best as I can."

Nico smiled softly. Lately, he wasn't trying to hide his smiles around Will-most likely because Will was the cause of most of them. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Nico leaned his head on Will's shoulder as Will threw a rock out into the lake. It skipped across the water a few times before finally slipping under the lake's gentle waves, slowly sinking to the bottom.

"You know that my siblings know, right?" Will asked him after another few minutes of tranquility.

Nico groaned. "Gods help us."

"Hey, they won't tell if I tell them to. We may be bad liars, but we can keep secrets."

"Good."

Will threw out another rock, and it skipped four times before sinking.

"Will?"

"Mm?"

"What did you mean earlier by liking both girls and boys?"

"Oh, that?"

Nico nodded.

Will chuckled. "Yeah, I'm attracted to both boys and girls. It's called bisexuality-when you like two genders."

"Bisexuality." Nico liked the way that the word rolled off of his tongue. "What about liking only boys?"

"That's homosexuality, if you're a boy. If you're a girl and like boys, you're a heterosexual."

"What about girls who like girls?"

"If you only like people the same gender as you, it's homosexuality."

He chewed on the inside of his bottom lip. "That's a lot."

"There's more. Asexuality is when you aren't attracted to anyone. Polysexuality is when you are attracted to multiple genders. Pansexuality is when you like all genders."

Now Nico was very confused. "There's only two genders, Will."

"Ehhhhh..." Will shook his hand. "Not really."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people aren't very comfortable with the gender that they're born as. You know my sibling Alex?"

"I think."

"Alex is nonbinary. Zhe use zhe/zher pronouns."

"But what about birth gender?"

"Gender is what you see yourself as-girl, boy, nonbinary, agender, whatever. Genitals have nothing to do with it, they just determine how you make babies."

"Oh." Nico was still a little confused, but he guessed that Will was an expert on this subject.

"People who aren't cisgender-people comfortable with their birth gender-are transgender. It recently became an umbrella term to describe anyone who's not cisgender."

"What do you mean recently?"

Will swallowed, looking nervous. "Transgender used to mean you identified as the other gender. Like male to female transgender, and female to male transgender."

"Do you know anyone like that?"

"Uh..."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Will?"

Will stared out at the lake. "I am."

"What?"

"I was born in the wrong body. I didn't realize that I was really a boy until a few years ago. But ever since I did..." He sighed. "I just feel so much more comfortable with myself. A whole lot better." He looked back at Nico. "Does this...change our relationship?"

Nico mulled it over. He was still foreign to the concept of different genders and sexualities. But he really liked Will. And Will was a boy. And Nico liked boys.

"No, it doesn't."

Will sighed with relief. "Oh, thank gods. I thought you would want to break up, since you only like boys and all."

"You're a boy, Will. Boys are what I like."

He smiled. "Thank you."

Nico hesitated, before smiling back. Maybe he could really get used to this dating thing after all.

 **IV.**

"Nico!" Someone was shaking his shoulder roughly.

Nico reached out and tried to swat that someone away. "Fuck off," he mumbled.

"Uh, no. You really need to get up!"

"Don't want to."

"Nico di Angelo! There is a camp emergency!"

Nico opened one eye to see Will standing next to his bed. He was wearing a gray sweater and blue checkered pajama bottoms, with his blonde hair still messy from sleep. All in all, he didn't look half-bad.

"It's too early."

"Nico, I'm sorry, but I wouldn't be getting you up so early if there wasn't an actual problem going on here."

The son of Hades sat up in his bed, stretching his arms out and yawning. "What, a drakon attack?"

"Worse. It's Percy."

Nico froze mid-yawn. "What."

"Percy. He's gone missing!"

In a flash, Nico was on his feet and rummaging under his bed for his sword. "Where? When?"

"Last night, in his cabin. Annabeth went up there just a few minutes ago and he wasn't there. No signs of him leaving camp. No signs of a struggle. Chiron is trying to call his mom."

Nico pulled the sword out from under the bed. "Any leads?"

Will shook his head, his hair flopping everywhere. "None. The entire camp-the portion that is awake, at least-is frantic."

"Has anyone searched the woods?"

"Not yet, but I think Annabeth was trying to organize some people together for that."

Nico nodded. "I'm going with them."

Will's eyes widened. Nico noted that they were a light gray, like the clouded sky. His eyes always matched the color of the sky. If the clouds cleared away later, they were sure to turn blue. "What? No! That's dangerous! If something did drag him off, and you run into it-"

"Percy's my friend, I have to find him," Nico cut him off. "I'll be alright. And if something does happen, at least I know that there will be a medic waiting for me."

Will groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, although his cheeks were considerably pinker. "I know, but I just...I don't want to see you get hurt."

Nico's heartbeat quickened, and his cheeks tingled with what he was sure was a blush of his own. "Thanks."

"Good luck, then."

"Yeah."

Nico slipped his feet into his shoes, and was about to walk out the door when Will exclaimed, "Wait!" Nico groaned and turned to face Will, only to be greeted with the sensation of someone's lips against his cheek.

Will pulled back, blushing. Nico blushed as well, and raised a hand tentatively to his cheek. Will sighed. "I know that you're not really into that sort of thing, but I've been wanting to do that for a while. I get it if that's too fast for you-"

"Will."

"Yes?"

"You talk too much sometimes."

"And what does that mean?"

Unsure of what he was about to do, only knowing that he was going to do it, Nico grabbed Will by the collar of his sweater and pulled him down to give him a proper kiss on the lips. They stayed like that for a second, until Nico stepped back and let go of Will.

Will blinked. "Okay. So you're good with kissing then?"

Nico nodded, his lips tingling along with his cheek.

Will chuckled. "Good information for later, huh?"

"Shut up!"

"Nah, I think you know how to get me to shut up now," Will teased. Nico punched his shoulder. "Hey, watch it!"

"Never." But Nico did lean back up to kiss Will again. This time, they stayed connected for longer, and Will's hands found themselves entwined in Nico's hair. What drove them apart this time was a knocking on the door.

"Hey, Solace! Did you get di Angelo up yet!" a girl yelled.

Will rolled his eyes. "Yes, he's finally up! We're coming out now!"

"Good!"

Will pinched the bridge of his nose again, and Nico chuckled, before walking up to the door and opening it to reveal Clarisse La Rue and Alex Smith, one of Will's half-siblings.

"Sorry, where's Annabeth?" Nico asked. "I heard about the search party."

Alex pointed in the direction of the Athena cabin. "She's over there," zhe explained. "Better hurry, a lot of people are joining it." True enough, a small crowd of campers had crowded around the Athena cabin.

Nico nodded. "Alright. Thanks, bye." He jogged off just as Will stepped out of the cabin.

Clarisse crossed her arms. "Seriously, what took you so long?" she complained.

"Have you ever tried to wake up a sleeping Hades child?" Will quipped. Even though they had been dating for nearly four months, Nico was still hesitant about letting their relationship go public. It frustrated Will sometimes, but he wasn't about to go and make Nico upset.

"Don't you know, Clarisse? They sleep like the _dead_." Alex noogied Clarisse. "Eh?"

Clarisse glared at her. "That was terrible."

Alex scoffed. "Fine. Be _aburrida_ like that." Zhe turned back to Will. "Are you joining the search party?"

Will shook his head. "No, you know that that's not my type of thing. Plus, if N...one of them gets hurt, then someone has to heal them."

Clarisse grunted. "All the more room for me. Someone's gotta find Jackson before he somehow gets his sorry ass killed." She stalked off in the direction of the Athena cabin.

Both siblings watched her go, until Alex turned back to Will. "In all seriousness, Will. What _did_ take so long?"

"You know, we just..." Will gestured vaguely. "Talked."

"Mm-hmm." Alex crossed zher arms. "Just talking?"

"Yes." Will winced. Being the son of the god of truth, it hurt him to lie.

"Li-ar!" Alex sang. "Okay, which one of you blew the oth-"

"ALEX!"

Zhe laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking! Did you kiss!"

"I'm not answering that question."

"Ooh!" Alex clapped zher hands together. "You did! Was he good at it? First kiss, right? Oh, yes, it is! Did both of you like it? Would he be good at blowjobs or-"

Will squawked and threw up his arms to shield his face. "STOP!"

Alex laughed again, but it soon died out. "Seriously, though. What do you think happened to Percy? I don't think something dragged him off."

Will shrugged. "I guess we'll be finding out soon enough."

 **V.**

Something was up.

It had been a few months since Percy's disappearance, and the appearance of Jason Grace. The time for the warship to embark to the Roman camp was approaching, and everyone was uneasy.

Especially Will.

Nico was almost never at camp these days. Will could count on one hand how many times he had seen him in real life in the past few weeks, which wasn't a good thing. Neither had anyone else. They were mostly focusing on the Prophecy of the Seven, and not the absence of the son of Hades. Most likely because Nico was still out looking for Percy. Will had tried to come along plenty of times, but Nico refused, claiming that many of the places that he searched weren't suitable for non-children of Hades. Will begrudgingly agreed after sitting through two harrowing accounts of searching, those accounts prompting him to lock Nico in an infirmary room later that day from concern for him.

Will and Nico had mostly been communicating through Iris-Messages these days, and, honestly, Will was getting sick of it. He wanted to see Nico again, to hold his hand, to push his hair behind his ear and tell him the feelings that were resting in his chest. He knew that that was sappy, but he didn't care. It was true. However, he wanted to tell these things to Nico in real life, in private, not through some Iris-Message that anyone could stumble into.

Oh, well. He guessed that he could settle for an Iris-Message for now.

"Hey, Will." Nico sounded pleased to see him, even though he didn't look like it.

"Hiya." Will smiled softly.

As most of their Iris-Messages went, Nico was in a darkened building. He would never tell Will where he was, merely brushing it off with a "I'll tell you later." Will didn't like that, but he chose not to pester Nico further on it.

Nico was supposedly still looking for Percy, although Will didn't know where. Frankly, Will was tired about hearing about it. They had a good idea of where Percy was now, so why continue to send out people to search for him?

"What's happened in camp while I was gone?" Nico asked.

"Well, Leo managed to slice half of the supplies in half while testing out a new defense system for the ship." Will laughed. "It was quite the sight."

Nick chuckled, and Will's heart fluttered. "I bet."

"Also, we got a new camper: Laura Kingston, daughter of Demeter. She's very quiet, from what I can tell, and serious. Like you."

"Shut up!"

Will shook his head. "Nope. I think Alex has a thing for her, but zhe aren't confirming anything."

"Alex is the strawberry blonde, right?"

"Yeah, the one with the dark blue eyes and the dirty jokes. Amelia from Aphrodite was trying to tell me about it, until Lexi-you remember her, she's blonde with brown eyes-dragged her off." Will sighed. "Those two have a weird relationship for sisters."

Nico shrugged. "They're girls. I wouldn't understand either."

Will smiled. "Yup, they aren't."

"What about you? You didn't wear a binder for too long again, did you?"

"Gods, Nico, I only wore it for a few minutes longer than usual."

"You told me about binding injuries-you could have been seriously hurt!"

"I'm fine. But I like you being all overprotective."

Nico turned red and grunted.

Will grinned. "I'm doing fine. The infirmary is getting busier now that we're further into summer, but that's really all that's new. How are you doing? Did you find out anything new about where Percy is?"

Nico stiffened, hurriedly crossing his arms. "There's nothing. As usual."

Will narrowed his eyes. As a son of Apollo, he sort of had a built-in lie detector, so it was obvious when people lied. And that was what Nico was doing. "Nico."

"What?"

"Why are you lying?"

"Will, there's nothing. The trail's gone cold long ago."

"Then why are you still looking?"

"I'm not the only one still looking!"

"Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary are the only other ones looking."

Nico muttered something that sounded like "soon they'll be the only ones."

Will blinked. "What was that?"

Nico glanced away. "Nothing."

"They'll be the only ones...only what?"

Nico sighed, and turned back to face Will. "Only ones searching for Percy."

Will's brow furrowed together in confusion, and then his face lit up. "Oh! You're not gonna search anymore?"

"Yeah-"

"You're coming back to camp?"

"Well-"

"Oh, that's great!" Will bounced up and down in his seat. "We haven't seen each other in real life in a while, wow. We could take a break from all of this stuff-"

"Will-"

"I found some new cool places where we could hang out-"

"Will-"

"There's also the movies again! We're still organizing some safe outings-"

" _Will_ -"

"Hopefully, when you get back, you're not roped into too much work-"

" _WILL!_ "

Will jumped, not expecting the outburst from the usually quiet son of Hades. "Yes?" he squeaked.

Nico looked uncharacteristically guilty. "I'm...I'm not coming back to camp. Right away, at least."

Will felt like someone had just ripped his heart out of his chest and performed the Texas two-step all over it. "Wait...you're not coming back?"

"Not right away."

"Then..." Will ran his fingers through his hair, his mind trying to process everything. "Then what are you doing? If you're not searching for Percy-"

"I'm going to look for something else," Nico cut him off again.

"Something else? What do you mean? There's nothing else to look for, besides Percy."

"Actually, there is."

"What?"

Nico looked conflicted, like he was wrestling internally with himself, until finally he exhaled and mumbled, "The Doors of Death."

Will stared at him, slowly shaking his head. "No. That's-That's in the Underworld, right? Too dangerous! Something could happen to you! You need to come back here, to camp." _Come back here, to me,_ he silently added.

"I can handle myself, Will!" Nico snapped back. Will was definitely surprised. Nico rarely got this angry, even if Will was pestering him. "I'm not some child to be coddled!"

"I'm not coddling you! I'm just being a concerned boyfriend!" Will barked back. "I can't help it if I worry over you-that's what I'm supposed to do, isn't it?"

Nico's eyes widened. "Did you just say..."

Too late, Will realized that he had called himself Nico's boyfriend. Stifling a yelp, he ducked his head, blushing. "Yeah, I guess I did," he muttered.

Both boys were silent, until something fell over in the distance on Nico's head. He jumped and cursed in Italian. "I need to go."

Will's head shot up. "What? No! You need to come back to camp!"

"No! I can do it! Plus, if I find them beforehand, and find a way to close them, that would make this entire quest so much easier!"

"At what cost? You're not gonna sacrifice yourself just to close the doors!"

"You have to do whatever it takes in war to win."

"Nico-"

"Goodbye." Nico swiped his hand, and the Iris-Message burst into colorful dancing sparks of light, before they faded away.

Will groaned, before turning around and punching his pillow as hard as he could. What was Nico thinking? He could kill himself down there!

Someone thwacked their hand against the curtain pulled around his bed. "What up, done with your boyfriend?" someone asked. "Because there's basketball practice in ten, and you gotta be there."

Will grumbled before yanking it back to find Kayla and Gordon, one of his half-brothers, staring down at him.

Kayla raised an eyebrow. "You alright?" she asked.

"Stellar," Will snapped.

Gordon whistled. "Man, I'm glad that me, Robert, and Timothy have a good relationship going." He paused. "Then again, Robert's back home in South Carolina, and Timothy's here, so I guess that it's not completely long-distance."

"Yeah, I guess." Kayla shrugged. "But what's wrong, Will?"

"Don't talk to me right now."

"Grum-pay!" Gordon sang.

"You too, Gordon!"

"Aww," Gordon complained, but he shut up anyways.

"Thank you, Kayla. I'll be going then." Will got off of his bed and stomped over to the door, slamming it shut so hard behind him that the entire cabin shook.

Kayla and Gordon both cringed. "Who peed in his Sunny D?" Gordon wondered.

"I think he's had a fight with Nico," Kayla murmured.

Gordon clasped his hands together, rubbing them eagerly. "Ooh, drama!"

Kayla facepalmed. "I hate having you as a brother," she decided.

 **VI.**

Something was up again.

After the last Iris-Message, Will felt terrible. He hated having fights, especially with people that he loved. He had to find a time to apologize to Nico as soon as possible. But first, he let a few days pass by. Both boys needed to calm down before they spoke again.

During those days, Will took a bigger interest in the camp work for the war. Now that the warship with the Seven had left for Camp Jupiter, every demigod was busy with at least _something_. Will was put in charge of checking over the infirmary and their supplies. Even though the war was supposedly a long way off, they never knew when Gaea could send some of her minions to strike. Plus, now that they knew the Romans knew about them, and were planning to attack, they all had to stock up.

After nearly two weeks, Will decided that more than enough time had passed. He was sure that he was calm enough to be able to apologize to Nico without blowing up again, and if Nico wanted to apologize for anything-even though he shouldn't have to, since it was Will's fault anyways-then he could too.

But Will knew that something was up when the Iris-Message refused to connect.

 _Okay, that's weird,_ he thought. _Maybe he has a bad connection right now, or he's busy with something and can't take it. Maybe another Iris-Message?_ He didn't want to think that Nico could be _cheating_ on him. Nico didn't seem like that type of person.

Right?

After five more tries, and five returned drachmas later, Will gave up. Nico just wasn't contactable right now. Fortunately, he knew someone who was.

"Annabeth?"

Annabeth glanced up from a map. Two demigods that Will didn't recognize-some burly Asian dude and an African-American girl with curly cinnamon hair-sat on a bench next to her, talking idly. On her other side, Leo Valdez tinkered away with some type of metal contraption.

"Will?" the daughter of Athena asked, clearly shocked. "Why are you messaging me? Is something wrong at camp?"

Will shook his head. "No, it's just that...You know how I'm...friends with Nico?"

The room went silent, and everyone stared at Will in the Iris-Message. "Hey, Will!" Leo greeted, waving his hand at him. Will waved back.

"Who's that?" the Asian boy asked.

"Oh, that's Will, he's a friend from camp," Annabeth explained. "Will, this is Frank and Hazel." Both of them waved at Will, smiling, and Will waved back again with a grin. "Will is a son of Apollo. Frank is a son of Mars, and Hazel is a daughter of Pluto."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that mean..."

"Oh, no, Hades didn't break the oath. Let's just say her situation was similar to Nico's."

"Ah." Will nodded. "Speaking of which, my Iris-messages aren't connecting to him. Is something wrong?" He was trying to be as casual as possible, but inside he was dreading that something had happened. A knot was beginning to form in his stomach.

Hazel curled in on herself instantly, and Frank carefully wrapped an arm around her. Leo grimaced, and Annabeth swallowed uneasily. The knot grew into a rock.

"Will..." Annabeth bit her lip, hesitating. "Did Nico tell you where he was going to go?"

Will scowled. "The Doors of Death. But why? He could never make it that far!"

"He...He found them..." Hazel whispered, before burrowing her face in Frank's chest.

The rock expanded to a boulder. "And?"

"Tartarus. Nico fell into Tartarus."

The boulder turned into many boulders, and suddenly there was a landslide in Will's stomach. "Excuse me?"

Annabeth pursed her lips together. "You can't reach Nico because he's in Tartarus."

Will could feel his entire body begin to shake, but he swallowed and nodded. "Right." His voice sounded thick. "Okay. Thanks."

"I'm sorry, Will. I know how much-"

Will brushed his hand through the Iris-Message, and it dispersed.

Tartarus. The darkest place that any demigod could have fallen into, the one where they were the most likely to die, and Nico was there. Nico was there, in Tartarus, and Will couldn't get a hold of him, and they had fought the last time they had talked, and, oh gods, what if Nico died, what if Nico died and the last thing on his mind was Will fighting with him, his last good memory and oh gods Will should've been better, he should've been so much more but he was just a healer, and there was nothing that he could do, even if he was on the Argo II, because he couldn't do a single fucking-

"Will? Will, are you...are you crying?"

Will hadn't realized that he had put his head in his hands and was crying until a voice broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see an Iris-Message. It was Annabeth, sitting alone on a bed in a different room. It was most likely her cabin on the Argo II, although Will didn't pay attention to any of the details.

"Should it matter?" Will snapped. "Leave me alone!" His voice broke on the last word, and he buried his face back in his hands.

Annabeth was silent for a while. "You're dating Nico," she said finally, like she had come to a conclusion.

Will stopped his sobs, breathing slowly and heavily, before he responded. "Is that new?"

She shook her head. "No. I've been suspecting that you two have had something going on, ever since that night after the second Titan War when you wanted to speak to Nico. But you two managed to hide your relationship so well, I was never really sure. I was tempted to ask Piper, since she's a daughter of Aphrodite and all, but I know that she doesn't do this type of stuff. Plus, it would be like intruding."

"It-It was N-" Oh, gods, it even _hurt_ to just speak his name now. "-his idea."

Annabeth nodded. "I understand. He's been through a lot, so it's obvious why he would be hesitant about it."

"I know." Will couldn't hold back his tears any longer, and he started to cry again. This time, he allowed himself the dignity of crying into his pillow, so Annabeth wouldn't have to bear full witness to his pathetic sobs.

Annabeth winced. She hated having to bear bad news, and now that she knew that Will and Nico were going out, it just made the bad news even worse. Seeing Will so torn up also hurt her. Why did everything unfortunate in the world have to happen to _them_?

"Would you like to keep to connection, Will? Or would you like me to go?" Annabeth asked.

"G-Go. Please." Or Will said something that sounded like that.

"Okay. If you need someone to talk to, you can just message me."

Will didn't answer. Grimacing, Annabeth waved her hand through the Iris-message, watching it disperse into dancing little sparks of color on her side of the connection.

Will buried his face deeper into his pillow, and practically screamed into it-screaming out his frustrations over the situation, over his troubles, his personal problems, everything. He didn't care if anyone heard him, or if his screams did anything.

He just wanted Nico di Angelo safe and back home with him.

 **VII.**

A shimmering rainbow light appeared next to Will's bed, but he refused to acknowledge it. Ever since that fateful Iris-Message, Annabeth had been trying to contact Will, to get him to talk a little. But he ignored her messages every time.

He was starting to ignore everyone, really. If they weren't Nico, or didn't have something to do with Nico, he didn't care. He was almost tempted to leave camp and go find him in Tartarus himself, but what good would that be? Will was only a healer, and he didn't have any special powers that would help on a quest, especially one as dangerous as this. Plus, he couldn't tell anyone about it, since he would have to go in secret, and it was hardly worth having everyone stress about him.

Especially with his nightmares. Every night, Will saw Nico in Tartarus. Sometimes he was falling, screaming for someone to help him, and Will felt like he was falling with him. Occasionally he died the moment he hit the ground. Other times, the monsters killed him, jumping him in his sleep and ripping him to shreds. Even Tartarus himself appeared once, sucking Nico into a void. Will had woken up screaming, waking up his cabinmates. Since then, he tried to keep himself calm when he woke up.

And he was sure that everyone was already stressing, even without the nightmares. His siblings kept trying to get him to talk to them. Laurel, one of the youngest at seven in her first year at camp, kept on poking him and chattering away about her day with camp, until Alice dragged her away. His brothers, like Austin, Samuel, and Gordon, handled him with care, as did his sisters. Even Alex was serious around him, although it may have been the recent events with Laura that was sobering zher.

His friends were the same. Lou Ellen and Cecil tried to get him to tell them what was wrong, but he refused to answer. Jake Mason didn't try to pry anything out of him, fortunately, as did Elizabeth, Miranda, and Kyle. Lexi also left him alone on the subject, and didn't try to use her "platonic powers" to drag it out of him, which he was grateful for.

His nightly prayers hardly helped. Every night, Will sacrificed at least half of his plate to Hades and Apollo, praying for a miracle, for Nico to get out of Tartarus safe and sound. He didn't get anything in return, but it wasn't like he was expecting anything. The gods were still shut off.

The light didn't go away, like Will was hoping it would, so he buried his face in his pillow and moaned something about leaving him alone. He didn't want to hear anything that Annabeth had to say.

"Will?"

"I'm not listening, Annabeth."

"Why would Annabeth be talking to you?"

That voice. That wasn't Annabeth's voice. In fact, it sounded like...

Will lifted his head slowly off of his pillow, blinking. No. It couldn't be. Will was dreaming. He _had_ to be. He was about to wake up and find out that this was a dream. After all, it had happened before.

But, despite himself, Will turned to face the Iris-Message.

And there, grungy and beat-up and scrawny, but most definitely alive, was Nico di freaking Angelo.

Will stared at the Iris-Message, before screaming and rolling off of his bed with a loud _THUMP_!

Nico winced. "Are you alright?"

"Nico? Is that you? Is that really you?" Will ignored the pulsing pain coming from the newly acquired lump on his head, as he scrambled back onto his bed. Tears were beginning to form in his eyes, but he ignored them.

Nico scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be?" But the smile on his face betrayed the fact that his annoyed tone was just for show.

Will started to breathe heavily. "Oh my gods! You're here-well, not really, it's an Iris-Message-but-oh my gods, you're alive, you're okay, you're-you're not monster meat somewhere-oh my gods, you're okay, you're actually okay, not shredded or broken like the dreams-" Tears started to spill from his eyes, but he made no effort to hide them.

"It's good to see you too." Nico's voice cracked at the end, and he hurriedly wiped his sleeves at his eyes.

"You're alive!" Will started crying for real this time, but it wasn't the heart-numbing sobs of pain and heartbreak that he has been crying for the past few days. These were happier sobs-tears of happiness and joy about having his boyfriend be safe and sound at last.

"I know." Nico's smile turned soft, and stopped trying to wipe his tears away.

Will tried to control his emotions, but he was just so _happy_ and everything suddenly seemed so much _better_ and _he_ felt so much better and someone was probably going to walk into the cabin at any minute and he should really pull himself together before that happened.

Will took a shaky breath, slowing down his crying, before looking back up at the Iris-Message, where Nico was wiping furiously at his eyes again. Will was overcome with emotion again at seeing him alive, but he stopped the tears from falling this time.

"Nico, I swear," he said, breaking the silence. "When you get back, I'm locking you away in the infirmary and chaining you to the bed."

Nico paused mid-wipe and burst out laughing, and Will's heart beat faster at the sound of Nico's laughter, which had been rare even before Percy's disappearance. "Oh my gods, Will," he choked out. "Do you really think that's going to hold me?"

"It will if I have anything to say about it."

Nico shook his head, chuckling, and Will smiled. But then Nico's smile slid off of his face, and he looked back up at Will. "Will, I'm-I'm sorry, about what I said when we last talked."

Will could feel his own smile disappear from his face. "I'm sorry too, Nico. I should've been more considerate about everything. Of course you should've gone looking, I shouldn't have tried to keep you here with me. That...That was selfish."

"No, it was my fault," Nico insisted. "You were right to be concerned about me. You were only doing the right thing. I should've listened to you."

"Oh, no. No. I know that you aren't a kid, and I realize that it seems like I was kinda treating you like one. I just got so caught up in my emotions that I sorta forgot, I guess. I'm sorry."

"No, Will, I'm sorry."

"We're both sorry."

"I'm more sorry."

"That's me, not you."

Nico laughed again, and Will laughed along with him. It felt good not to have to worry about Nico anymore.

When the laughter finally died down, Nico cleared his throat. "But, about what you said..."

"What did I say?" Then Will remembered.

 _"I'm not coddling you! I'm just being a concerned boyfriend!"_

 _Oh. Yeah, that._

Will gulped, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Ooh, that. Yeah."

"Do you...consider us..." Nico gestured vaguely. "...boyfriends?"

Will blushed and glanced away. "Yeah. I started calling us that in my head, but I was too embarrassed to tell you about it. I guessed that you weren't really ready to hear it."

"Will, it's fine. I-I actually like the sound of that."

Will looked back to find that Nico was blushing. "You do?" he squeaked, his heart pounding again.

Nico nodded, obviously too embarrassed to speak.

Will grinned. "Well, since I do too, I guess that makes us boyfriends."

Nico smiled shyly, which only made Will's grin wider.

And he decided that he wanted that moment to last forever.

 **VIII.**

Cupid dissolved into the wind.

On the ground where he'd stood laid an ivory staff three feet long, topped with a dark globe of polished marble about the size of a baseball, nestled on the back of three Roman eagles. The scepter of Diocletian.

Nico knelt and picked it up. He watched Jason, as if waiting for an attack. "If the others found out-"

"If the others found out," Jason said, "you'd have that many more people to back you up, and to unleash the fury of the gods on anybody who gives you trouble."

Nico regarded him coolly. Some resentment rippled off of him, but not to the extent that Jason would have expected.

"But it's your call," Jason added. "Your decision to share or not. I can only tell you-"

"I don't feel that way anymore," Nico replied. "I mean...I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I just had a silly infatuation. It took me too long to realize it, that's all."

Jason was surprised at how well Nico seemed to be handling this. "Nico, it's alright. You can talk to me about it-"

Nico turned to face him. "No, Jason. I'm seriously over Percy. I know what Cupid made it seem like, but I am. There's-" He cut himself off and looked away.

Jason knit his brow together. Did Nico have a crush on someone else now? But who could it be?

"Do you like someone else instead?" Jason asked.

Nico glanced back at him, and Jason saw that his cheeks were stained redder than Dakota's lips after he broke into Camp Jupiter's Kool-Aid supply. "I, uh, I sort of have a boyfriend."

"Oh!" Jason blinked in surprise. He hadn't heard anything about Nico dating someone. "You're dating someone?"

"Yeah. It's-We kept it a secret, though. I was..."

Jason didn't need Nico to finish the sentence. "You realize that almost nobody would have judged you for it, right?"

Nico pursed his lips. "Yes. But I'm still getting used to all of this. It's different where I come from, and that's what I've been used to for a long time."

Jason sort of understood what Nico was talking about, and he nodded slowly. "Right. Do...um...Do you mind me asking who it is that you're dating?"

Nico didn't answer him for a few moments, and Jason wondered if he struck a nerve with Nico. Then the shorter boy sighed and answered, "Will Solace."

"Will Solace..." Jason snapped his fingers. "Got it! He's the head of the Apollo cabin, right?"

Nico nodded. "That's him."

Jason laughed. "Knew that I recognized the name from somewhere."

"Of course you did."

An awkward silence passed between them. Jason wasn't sure what to say, since Nico seemed frosty towards him. He supposed that he just wasn't comfortable with having other people know about his relationship. "Do you want to head back? I can call on the winds-"

"No," Nico interrupted. "We're shadow-traveling. I've had enough of the winds for today."

 **IX.**

"Show me," Nico said.

The scene changed. Nico found himself in the rec room of the Big House, all the senior camp leaders gathered around the ping-pong table.

At one end sat Chiron the centaur, his equine posterior collapsed into his magic wheelchair so that he looked like a regular mortal. His curly brown hair and beard had more gray streaks than a few months ago. Deep lines etched his face.

"-things we can't control," he was saying. "Now let's review our defenses. Where do we stand?"

Clarisse from the Ares cabin sat forward. She was the only one in full armor, which was typical. Clarisse probably slept in her combat gear. As she spoke, she gestured with her dagger, which made the other counselors lean away from her.

"Our defensive line is mostly solid," she said. "The campers are as ready to fight as they'll ever be. We control the beach. Our triremes are unchallenged on Long Island Sound, but those ridiculous giant eagles dominate our airspace. Inland, in all three directions, the barbarians have been completely cut off."

"They're Romans," said Rachel Dare, doodling with a marker on the knee of her jeans. "Not barbarians."

Clarisse pointed her dagger at Rachel. "What about their allies, huh? Did you see the tribe of two-headed men that arrived yesterday? Or the glowing red dog-headed guys with the big poleaxes? They look pretty barbaric to me. It would've been nice if you've foreseen any of that, if your Oracle power didn't break down when we needed it the most!"

Rachel's face turned as red as her hair. "That's hardly my fault. Something is wrong with Apollo's gifts of prophecy. If I knew how to fix it-"

"She's right." A familiar hand placed itself on Clarisse's wrist, and Nico had to suppress a gasp.

It was Will. Now that Nico was seeing him in full-body and not from around the shoulders-up, like in most Iris-Messages, he got a better appreciation of him and how much he had really changed over the past few months.

Will's hair, which had always been shaggy and blonde, had darkened in color and had grown enough to completely cover his ears. He had gained more freckles, even if they were hard to see against his dark brown skin. If he was standing, Nico was sure that he would also be a bit taller. His eyes still matched the sky, however, since they were a bright blue, similar to the blue of his SURF BARBADOS shirt.

Seeing him alive and well startled Nico. Since Tartarus, he had been having terrible nightmares about the place. Will had appeared in many of them, trying to help Nico. And every time, he died trying. It was surprising to see him without any injuries, cuts, or bruises. He got that same shock whenever he saw him in an Iris-Message.

Will reminded Nico of Jason sometimes. Even though Will looked relaxed and unaggressive, in comparison to Jason's tension and constant alertness, Nico knew that both could be stubborn and get passionate quickly. Will also wasn't as non-threatening as he looked. Nico had seen him in action in the Battle of Manhattan-the camp's best combat medic, risking his life for the wounded campers. He was dating him, too, so he knew that Will was much more than what met the eye.

"We don't know what's going on at Delphi," Will continued. "My dad hasn't answered any prayers, or appeared in any dreams...I mean, all the gods have been silent, but this isn't like Apollo. Something's wrong."

Across the table, Jake Mason grunted. "Probably the Roman dirt-wipe who's leading the attack-Octavian what's-his-name. If I was Apollo and my descendent was acting like that, I'd go into hiding out of shame."

"I agree," Will said. "I wish I was a better archer...I wouldn't mind shooting my Roman relative off of his high horse. Actually, I wish I could use any of my father's gifts to stop this war."

Nico's gut twisted at Will's words, and he dreaded what Will was about to say next. Shadows began to twist around Nico's feet.

Will looked down at his own hands with distaste. "Unfortunately, I'm just a healer."

Chiron said something, but Nico didn't hear it. The shadows exploded all around him as he growled at Will.

How could he say that? His talents were valued, and he was probably the greatest healer that Camp Half-Blood ever had. It didn't matter that he couldn't sing or shoot or whatever. How could it ever matter?

"Whoa, Nico!" Clovis swatted at the shadows that had coiled around him. "Calm down! I'm losing you!"

The scene in the rec room wavered as more and more shadows appeared. But Nico hardly cared.

"How could he say that?!" Nico ranted. "He's a healer! Doesn't he know how valuable that is? Just because he doesn't have any other powers like archery or music doesn't mean that-"

"Hey, hey, hey! Check yourself before you wreck yourself and this connection!" Clovis gasped, stumbling away from a group of shadows into Nico.

The sudden contact broke Nico's hold on the shadows, and they melted back to where they had come from. The scene returned to normal-Grover Underwood was saying something while he fiddled with his reed pipes.

"Whoa, dude!" Clovis actually looked completely awake for once. "What was that?"

Now that Nico had regained his senses, he felt embarrassed. "Uh, nothing. I guess my powers just slipped up."

Clovis shook his head. "No, no. You were ranting about Will, and the shadows acted up..." His face lit up, and Nico's began to burn. "Oh, no way."

"Shut up, Clovis."

"You-You like Will?" Clovis began to laugh.

Nico's face was definitely red by now. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing-It's just that-You're complete opposites! He's all-" Clovis put on a high-pitched cheerful voice. "'Hey, look, there's people! I like people! And sunshine, and dogs, and cats, and healing, and being outside, and mornings!'" Then he dropped to a gravely voice. "And you're like 'Ugh there's people, I only like skeletons, death, being inside, and night. I only work in black-and sometimes very very dark gray."

"I do not sound like that."

"Don't knock my Batman impression, dude."

"That's not helping."

"Your fathers are opposites, too! God of the sun and everything nice in general, and then the god of death and the Underworld." Cecil laughed again. "Boy, what a pair!" Then he fell asleep mid-laugh.

Nico sighed, and snapped his fingers under Clovis's chin. The curly-haired demigod jerked awake. "Wha?"

"I don't have a crush on him, Clovis."

Clovis snorted. "Sure."

"No, Clovis, I'm serious," Nico insisted.

Clovis yawned. "Nico has a cru-ush," he sang sleepily.

"Fuck off. And not a word of this to anyone."

"The only fucking that you want is you fucking Will."

Nico shoved Clovis off of him and stood up. Clovis muttered "Rude," before promptly falling asleep. He sighed. Clovis was a good guy, but he didn't trust him with things like this. Hopefully, Clovis would listen to him, and not breathe a word of this to anyone. Nico turned his attention back to the rec room.

Clarisse was talking again. "Which is impossible-we're supposed to trust that that will bring peace? The statue arrives, and suddenly the Romans lay down their weapons and start dancing around, throwing flowers?"

Rachel set down her marking pen. "Annabeth knows what she's doing. We have to try for peace. Unless we can unite the Greeks and Romans, the gods won't be healed. Unless the gods are healed, there's no way we can kill the giants. And unless we kill the giants-"

"Gaea wakes," Connor Stoll said, Cheese Whip around his mouth for some reason. "Game over. Look, Clarisse, Annabeth sent me a message from Tartarus. From fricking Tartarus. Anybody who can do that...Hey, I listen to them."

Clarisse opened her mouth to reply, but when she spoke it was Coach Hedge's voice: "Nico, wake up. We've got problems."

 **X.**

Will could've gone without the angry Roman girl threatening murder.

He had been trying to contact Nico every few hours since he found about the plan for transporting the Athena Parthenos. Nico should have talked with him first. Having to shadow-travel so many times was going to strain his body, and Will wasn't sure if Nico could take it. If anything happened to him...

No. Will couldn't think about it.

The Iris-Messages didn't always go through. Nico must have been traveling, or in a very deep sleep.

Or worse.

Only two had gotten through so far-the call in Spain, and the call in Albania. Will didn't like to think about the Albania one. That was very weird, even by demigod standards.

The Spain one hadn't gone much better. Nico looked even more tired than usual, with darker circles and wearier limbs. It scared Will to see him like that. Then howling started, and Nico had to cut it off.

It took a long time, but Will finally managed to contact Nico again, even if he wasn't exactly conscious for it.

Nico was sprawled out on a lawn chair, across from a sparkling pool. His eyes were closed and a strand of drool dripped from his lips. Next to him were the feet of a giant statue, which was presumably the Athena Parthenos. Seeing him mostly alive and well startled Will. The nightmares of him in Tartarus had only returned a few times, but the image of Nico dying, bruised, battered, and alone, was stuck in Will's mind. Every time they Iris-Messaged, he felt that same shock.

Nico must have been close to waking up, otherwise the call would have never made it through. All Will would have to do was wait. Which he was seriously getting sick of doing.

Then the screen filled with angry red-brown eyes, and Will screamed before falling off his bed.

"Who are you?" The eyes backed away to reveal a teenage Hispanic girl in golden armor. She pulled out a sword of the same material and pointed it at Will.

This must have been Reyna, the other person traveling with Nico on the quest. Coach Hedge had been going with them. Seeing her in person was a shock. Will had been expecting her to look extremely scary. He was right.

"I said, who are you?! Answer me!" Reyna moved to a defensive position in front of Nico, and a flare of jealousy sprung up in Will.

"I'm Will. Will Solace. I'm Nico's bo-friend. His friend."

"Will Solace, huh?" Reyna waved her sword. Even though they weren't in the same room, Will didn't want to get anywhere near that sword. "I don't recall Nico mentioning you."

Reyna's words stung. Will knew that what he and Nico had was meant to be a secret, but he had wondered if Nico ever talked about him as just a friend. That was what Will did with other people. "My friend Nico...Oh yeah, Nico's my friend...I learned that from Nico, one of my friends."

"Well, Nico's not the greatest conversationalist, right?" Will laughed awkwardly as he sat back up, adjusting his binder under his shirt. He should tell Nico about that at some point.

"True," Reyna admitted, lowering her sword. "Why are you calling him?"

"Because I'm his friend? And for medical reasons too. I'm a son of Apollo, and I'm going to make sure he doesn't fade away."

"Good. But I haven't seen any of his other friends call."

"Well, we've been busy around here in camp. Preparing for Gaea to wake up and all that! And the Seven are busy too."

"I see." Reyna was still frosty, but she wasn't as hostile as when she had first appeared on the screen. "And you just happen to not be busy?"

"Um, I'm on break."

"Is that so?"

A groaning interrupted them, and Reyna stepped away to reveal Nico sitting up in the chair, rubbing at his eyes.

"Good afternoon, Nico," Reyna greeted.

"Too early," Nico muttered, glancing around. "Thought I heard Solace..."

Will's heart leapt, but he managed to keep his expression neutral. "At your service."

Nico promptly fell off his chair with a loud clatter.

"Nico!" Will yelled, as Reyna ran to Nico's side and helped him up. The same flare of jealousy from before made Will shudder.

Nico shoved off Reyna's hand. "Reyna, I'm fine-where's Will? I heard him-"

"Hello." Will waved."

Nico looked up at the Iris-Message. "Will? What are you doing?"

"Well, I called you, but you were asleep. Then Reyna started talking to me, you woke up, and here we are."

Nico stood up, stretching out his arms. "What were you guys talking about?"

"She interrogated me."

"Reyna!"

"You've never mentioned a Will Solace before. I was making sure Octavian wasn't trying to pull something over us."

"It's alright. Will's just my boy-good friend."

Did he...? The rush of nearly being discovered mixed in with the happiness over Nico almost calling Will his boyfriend. He hoped he wasn't blushing. That would be hard to explain to Reyna.

Reyna slid her sword back into her scabbard and crossed her arms. "You're just friends."

"Yeah?"

Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Seems like you were about to say something else."

"Slip of the tongue. I'm in a daze from my nap," Nico lied.

"Hmm." Reyna turned to Will. "And your tongue just happened to slip too?"

Will didn't know how to answer that. On one hand, he didn't want to tell the truth. On the other, as a son of Apollo, it would be extremely hard for him to lie. And Reyna would know he was lying.

He swallowed and nodded, cringing as his body stung from the lie.

Reyna narrowed her eyes. "Hurt him, and I will not hold him back from hurting you back."

"Uh-"

"And then I'll finish the job."

Silence hung heavy around the trio, save for the people in the background.

Reyna looked around. "Where's Coach Hedge? He should have been back by now."

Nico shrugged.

"I'll go find him. You two deserve some alone time." She swung her cape around and was gone.

"She's intense," Will whispered.

"She means well. Reyna's not so bad once you spend time with her," Nico defended. "But yeah, she can be."

 **XI.**

"I have to disable the onagers," Nico said. "We don't have much time.

"You'll never get close to them," Leila warned. "Even if we get the entire Fourth and Fifth Cohorts to follow us, the other cohorts will try to stop us. And those siege weapons are manned by Octavian's most loyal followers."

"We won't get close by force," Nico agreed. "But alone, I can do it. Dakota, Leila-Jules-Albert will drive you to the legion lines. Get out, talk to your troops, convince them to follow your lead. I'll need a distraction."

Dakota frowned. "All right, but I'm not hurting any of my fellow legionnaires."

"No one's asking you to," Nico growled. "But if we don't stop this war, the entire legion will be wiped out. You said the monster tribes take insult easily?"

"Yes," Dakota said. "I mean, for instance, you make any comment to those two-headed guys about the way they smell and...oh." He grinned. "If we started a brawl, by accident of course..."

"I'll be counting on you," Nico said.

Leila frowned. "But how will you-"

"I'm going dark," Nico said. And he faded into the shadows.

He thought he was prepared.

He wasn't.

Even after three days of rest and the wondrous healing properties of Coach Hedge's gooey brown gunk, Nico started to dissolve the moment he shadow-jumped.

His limbs turned to vapor. Cold seeped into his chest. Voices of spirits whispered in his ears: Help us. Remember us. Join us.

Another voice rang through his head-a familiar boy scolding him about shadow-traveling so much that he exhausted himself. The cold left his chest as it constricted at the memory of Will poking Nico's chest with his finger as he scolded him. The memory flitted away as soon as it had come, and his chest felt cold again.

He hadn't realized how much he had relied on Reyna. Without her strength, he felt as weak as a newborn colt, wobbling dangerously, ready to fall at every step.

No, he told himself. I am Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. I control the shadows. They do not control me.

He stumbled back into the mortal world at the crest of Half-Blood Hill.

He fell to his knees, hugging Thalia's pine tree for support. The Golden Fleece was no longer in its branches. The guardian dragon was gone. Perhaps they've been moved to a safer spot with the battle so close. Nico wasn't sure. But looking down at the Roman forces arrayed outside the valley, his spirits wavered.

The nearest onager was a hundred yards downhill, encircled in spiked trenches and guarded by a dozen demigods. The machine was primed, ready to fire. Its huge sling cupped a projectile the size of a Honda Civic, glowing with flecks of gold.

With icy certainty, Nico realized what Octavian was up to. The projectile was a mixture of incendiaries and Imperial Gold. Even a small amount of Imperial Gold could be incredibly volatile. Exposed to too much heat or pressure, the stuff would explode with devastating impact, and of course it was deadly to demigods as well as monsters. If that onager scored a hit on Camp Half-Blood, anything-and anyone, he thought, before pushing the thought away in an effort to not think of Will dying-in the blast zone would be annihilated-vaporized by the heat, or disintegrated by the shrapnel. And the Romans had six onagers, all stocked with piles of ammunition.

"Evil," Nico said. "This is evil."

He tried to think. Dawn was breaking. He couldn't possibly take down all six weapons before the attack began, even if he found the strength to shadow-travel that many times. If he managed it once more, it would be a miracle.

He spotted the Roman command tent-behind and to the left of the legion. Octavian would probably be there, enjoying breakfast at a safe distance from the fighting. He wouldn't march his troops into battle. The little scumbag would hope to destroy the Greek camp from a distance, wait for the flames to die down, then march in unopposed.

Nico's throat constricted with hate. He concentrated on the tent, envisioning his next jump. If he could assassinate Octavian, that might solve the problem. The order to attack might never be given. Nico was about to attempt it when a shocked voice behind him said, "Nico?"

Nico froze. No. It couldn't be. He couldn't be out here. It couldn't be him. He was just hoping too much.

He spun around, sword in hand, and nearly decapitated the last person that he would ever want to hurt-Will Solace.

"Nico? Oh, my gods-Is it really you?" Will was staring at him in shock, a look that Nico rarely got to see on his boyfriend (He still wasn't used to that word).

Nico felt his limbs relax as the initial surprise left him, and his sword dropped to the ground. "Will?"

Will's jaw dropped. "It-It is you!"

Nico broke out into a smile, which he didn't try to hide, even though it made his face hurt. "Will!"

"Nico!" Will enveloped him in a fierce hug, picking Nico up and spinning him around while laughing. Nico just smiled even wider and buried his face in Will's neck in an attempt to hide the tears of joy threatening to spill out of his eyes. For now, he didn't care if the hug was starting to feel uncomfortable. It was Will, after all. It was Will, and he wasn't dying like he was in Nico's nightmares.

They finally stopped spinning, and Will started to babble mercilessly. "You're too light! You shouldn't be so easy to pick up. You really need to eat more. Are you okay? Have you been sleeping enough? Oh, gods, I am picking up so much darkness-" He was cut off by a muffled laugh. "What's so funny, Nico?" Will demanded.

"I'm sorry," Nico apologized, lifting his face out of Will's shoulder. "It's-it's just that you're not an Iris-Message."

Will turned beet red. He opened his mouth to respond when someone cleared their throat.

Two other campers stood off to the side-a slim white girl with curly blonde hair and misty green eyes, and a shorter Hispanic boy with brown eyes and a mischievous look on his face. It took Nico a moment to remember their names, but he finally did: Lou Ellen and Cecil, two of Will's best friends. Both of them wore black jeans and t-shirts, with black grease paint on their faces like commandos. Will was in a similar outfit. Nico's cheeks flushed with heat.

Will yelped and turned even redder. "G-Guys! I totally forgot-Oh, shit-Nico, I am so, so, so very sorry-"

"Do y'all need a moment to catch up or something?" Lou Ellen asked. "Me and Cecil can go behind the hill-"

"Atsuko owes me five bucks!" Cecil shouted gleefully.

"What?" Nico asked. Will set him down gently.

"Look, guys, whatever you think this is-it's not! It's not, it's not, never is and never will be-"

"What, Nico isn't your secret boyfriend?"

"Lou!"

Lou Ellen laughed. "Oh my gods, he totally is! Cecil, you should've snapped a picture while they were hugging."

"You read my mind, Lou Ellen. But I don't have a camera, plus I wasn't expecting this."

"Ah, what a shame, what a shame."

"Do you think they've had s-"

"GUYS!" Will squawked, and clasped his hands over Nico's ears. He leaned away from the sudden contact. Will took his hands off of Nico's ears when he realized it was making him uncomfortable.

"So, Will, when were you planning to tell us about this?" Lou Ellen asked.

"We want-Well, we kinda just-Uh-"

"We-me specifically-wanted to keep our relationship a secret," Nico explained, cutting Will off.

"Yeah. I was-I was just about to say that."

"Don't worry. If you don't want us to tell anyone else, we'll keep it secret." Lou Ellen and Cecil mimicked zipping their lips. Nico wasn't assured, but he supposed he could accept it.

He decided to change the subject. "Did Coach Hedge make it to camp?"

Lou Ellen snorted. "Did he ever."

Will elbowed her. "Yeah. Hedge is fine. He made it just in time for the baby's birth."

"The baby!" Nico grinned. "Mellie and the kid are all right?"

"Fine. A very cute little satyr boy." Will shuddered. "But I delivered it. Have you ever delivered a baby?"

"Um, no."

"I had to get some fresh air, which is why I volunteered to scout on the hill with Lou and Cecil. Gods of Olympus, my hands are still shaking. See?"

He took Nico's hand, and the familiar electric current feeling shivered down Nico's spine. "Yeah, I see. But there's hardly any time for chitchat. The Romans are attacking at dawn and I've got to-"

"We know," Will interrupted. "But if you're planning to shadow-travel to that command tent, forget it."

Nico glared at him. "Excuse me?"

Will's dark blue eyes narrowed at him-annoyingly determined. He usually had trouble keeping eye contact with most people, but Nico knew that Will had no trouble with him. "Coach Hedge told me more about your shadow-travel, and I've seen how bad you looked in those Iris-Messages. You can't try that again."

"I just did try it again, Solace. I'm fine."

"No, you're not! Are you forgetting I'm a healer? I could feel the darkness in your hand as soon as I touched it. Even if you made it to that tent, you'd be in no shape to fight. But you wouldn't make it. One more slip, and you won't come back. Which is not happening." Will's voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "You are not shadow-traveling. Doctor's orders."

"The camp is about to be destroyed-"

"And we'll stop the Romans," Will said. "But we'll do it our way. Lou Ellen will control the Mist. We'll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. But no shadow-travel."

Nico groaned. "I know you're concerned about me, but this is a thing-"

"No way."

"But-"

"No."

Lou Ellen's and Cecil's heads swiveled back and forth like they were watching a really intense tennis match. "How did they ever get together?" Cecil whispered.

Nico sighed in exasperation. He hated working with other people. They were always cramping his style, making him uncomfortable, no matter how well he knew them. Even Will got on his nerves in this way, especially right now. The son of Apollo seemed easygoing and laidback, but he was really stubborn and aggravating.

Nico gazed down at Camp Half-Blood, where the rest of the Greeks were preparing for war. Past the troops and ballistae, the canoe lake glittered pink in the first light of dawn. Nico remembered the first time he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, crash-landing in Apollo's sun car, which had been converted into a fiery school bus.

He remembered Apollo, smiling and tan and completely cool in his shades. When he had met Will later that day, he had been awestruck.

Thalia had said, He's hot.

He's the sun god, Percy replied.

That's not what I meant.

Think about how Thalia thought Will's dad was hot irritated Nico, made him feel jittery. Why was he thinking about it? Because Will was Apollo's son?

At any rate, he had arrived at Camp Half-Blood thanks to Apollo. Now, on what would likely be his last day at camp, he was with Will Solace, a son of Apollo, and his boyfriend.

"Fine," Nico agreed. "But we have to hurry. And you'll follow my lead."

"Just don't ask me to deliver any more satyr babies." Will snickered. "Also, do you want to change your shirt?"

Nico glanced down, face flushing when he realized he was still wearing the parrot shirt. "Hey, it was all they had in Puerto Rico!"

"When this is over, let's grab some of your actual clothes from your cabin."

"Then we burn the shirt."

Will grinned, and Nico got the feeling that everything was going to be fine.

 **XII.**

At dawn, he was still awake when someone rapped at the door.

He turned, registering a face with blond hair, and for a split second he thought it was Will Solace. When Nico realized it was Jason, he was disappointed but somewhat relieved.

He hadn't talked to Will since the battle. The Apollo kids had been too busy with the injured. Besides, Will probably blamed Nico for what happened to Octavian. Why wouldn't he, even though they were dating? Nico had basically permitted...whatever that was. Murder by consensus. A gruesome suicide. By now, Will Solace must have realized just how truly creepy and revolting Nico di Angelo was. It was surprising how he didn't immediately ask to break up after Octavian was flung into the air.

"You okay?" Jason asked. "You look-"

"Fine," Nico snapped. Then he softened his tone. "If you're looking for Hazel, she's still asleep."

Jason mouthed Oh, and gestured for Nico to come outside.

Nico stepped into the sunlight, blinking and disorientated. Ugh...He was not a morning person. A memory of Will calling him a vampire as a joke flitted into his mind, but he pushed it back.

Jason didn't look as though he's slept any better. His hair had a cowlick on one side and his new glasses sat crookedly on his nose. Nico resisted the urge to reach out and straighten them.

Jason pointed to the strawberry fields, where the Romans were breaking camp. "It was strange to see them here. Now it'll be strange not seeing them."

"Do you regret not going with them?" Nico asked.

Jason's smile was lopsided. "A little. But I'll be going back and forth between the camps a lot. I have some shrines to build."

"I heard. The Senate plans to elect you pontifex maximus."

Jason shrugged. "I don't care about the title so much. I do care about making sure the gods are remembered. I don't want them fighting out of jealousy anymore, or taking out their frustration on demigods."

"They're gods," Nico said. "That's their nature."

"Maybe, but I can try to make it better." A shadow passed over his face. "I guess Leo would say I'm acting like a mechanic, doing preventative maintenance."

Nico sensed Jason's sorrow like an oncoming storm. "You know, you couldn't have stopped Leo. There's nothing you could have done differently. He knew what had to happen."

"I-I guess. I don't suppose you can tell if he's still-"

"He's gone," Nico said. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I sensed his death."

Jason stared into the distance.

Nico felt guilty for squashing his hopes. He was almost tempted to mention his own doubts...what a different sensation Leo's death had given him, as if Leo's soul had invented its own way into the Underworld-something that involved lots of gears, levers, and steam-powered pistons.

Nevertheless, Nico was sure Leo Valdez had died. And death was death. It wouldn't be fair to give Jason false expectations.

In the distance, the Romans were picking up their gear and toting it across the hill. On the other side, so Nico had heard, a fleet of black SUVs waited to transport the legion cross-country back to California. Nico guessed that would be an interesting road trip. He imagined the entire Twelfth Legion in the drive-through lane at Burger King. He imagined some hapless monster terrorizing a random demigod in Kansas, only to find itself surrounded by several dozen carloads of heavily armored Romans.

"Ella the harpy is going with them, you know," Jason said. "She and Tyson. Even Rachel Elizabeth Dare. They're going to work together to try to reconstruct the Sibylline Books."

"That should be interesting."

"Could take years," Jason said. "But with the voice of Delphi extinguished..."

"Rachel still can't see the future?"

Jason shook his head. "I wish I knew what happened to Apollo in Athens. Maybe Artemis will get him out of trouble with Zeus and the power of the prophecy will work again. But for now, those Sibylline Books might be our only way to get guidance for quests."

"Personally," Nico said, "I could do without prophecies or quests for a while."

"You've got a point." He straightened his glasses. "You're not reconsidering staying at Camp Half-Blood, are you? I know you said that you wanted to stay, but with all that's happened since then-"

"I'm still staying."

Jason blinked. "What?"

"At Camp Half-Blood. I've been away for so long that I've forgotten how terrible my cabin is. I'll have to remodel. It's gonna need a head counselor as well. And someone's gonna have to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically. They properly butchered them while I was gone."

"That's-that's fantastic! Dude!" Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. "Right. No touching. Sorry."

Nico grunted. " I suppose we can make an exception."

Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.

"Oh, man," Jason said. "Wait 'till I tell Piper you're permanently staying. Hey, since I'm all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share a table at the dining hall. We can team up for Capture the Flag and sing-along contests and-"

"Hey, slow down! I'm not singing in front of anyone!"

"Sorry, sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I'm just glad."

Nico actually believed him. Maybe not everyone hated him.

Nico happened to glance towards the cabins and saw someone waving at him. Will Solace stood in the doorway of the Apollo cabin, a stern look on his face. He pointed to the ground at his feet like You. Here. Now.

Panic rose up in Nico, and he turned back to Jason. "Quick, act like you're talking to me."

Jason frowned. "But I am talking to you."

"Whatever. Just do it, and don't look at the Apollo cabin."

"Why?" Jason turned and stared at the Apollo cabin, squinting. Nico wanted to throttle him with five hellhounds. "Is that Will Solace?"

"I told you not to look over there!" Nico hissed as he yanked Jason back.

"I think he's coming over here."

Sure enough, Nico looked up to see Will stomping towards him, looking royally pissed off. "Shit, hide me."

"Isn't he your boyfriend?"

"Hide me, dammit!" Nico crouched behind Jason.

"What is this, hide-and-seek?"

"NICO DI ANGELO!" a voice yelled. Nico winced.

"He's right behind me." Jason stepped aside to reveal Nico facepalming.

Will marched up the steps to the Hades cabin. "So where were you?!" he demanded. He was wearing a green surgeon's shirt with jeans and flip-flops, which was probably not standard hospital protocol.

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

"I've been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don't come by. You don't offer to help."

"I...what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room as people you're trying to heal?" Nico didn't have anything better to say. "I thought you hate me so I'm trying to avoid you" would just make things worse.

"Bull fucking shit."

"I think I'm gonna go find Piper," Jason decided, before walking down the porch steps. Nico shot him a helpless look, but Jason just shrugged in reply before disappearing.

"Didn't I tell you to meet me in the infirmary as soon as you can? You owe me at least three days of rest, and I need to make sure you don't try to pull any more Underworld-y stuff either," Will said, crossing his arms.

"I know, Will. I've just been pretty busy. You know, dead campers and all."

"That's not much of an excuse."

Nico glanced away.

"Are you avoiding me?"

He didn't answer.

"Look, if I did something wrong, I'm sorry. I know I pressure you a lot about staying safe. From my viewpoint, I'm trying to keep you alive and safe. I probably just look overbearing to you."

"A little, but not always," Nico admitted, still looking away. "I do appreciate you looking out for me."

Silence passed between them.

"Is this about something else?" Will asked.

Nico bit his tongue. This didn't feel like a good time to discuss why Nico had been avoiding Will.

"Is this about Octavian?" The floorboards of the porch creaked as Will stepped closer to Nico. He could feel his presence behind him-warm, inviting, and comforting.

"I thought you would hate me," Nico confessed. He sat down on the porch, crossing his legs. "I let him do it. I let him die. I thought you would think I'm a monster for that, and you would want to break up."

"Nico, that's not true." Will sat down next to him, and gently took his hand in his. "If you're forgetting, I was there too. I could have prevented his death just as easily."

"Yeah, but you actually tried to. You tried to warn him. I didn't do anything."

"I still could have done more. And I really should've. I mean, I've had patients die right in front of me. You'd think I'd be used to people dying when I could've prevented it, but not really. And Octavian's death was way different. In a way, it was like...he wanted to die, if it could save Rome." Will's thumb started tracing patterns into Nico's hand.

"You're right. Maybe if we told him, he still would've done it. But I still feel guilty about it."

"It wasn't entirely your fault. I was part of it too. So if you're a monster for letting it happen, I'm a monster too. Let's be monsters together."

A weight started to lift itself off of Nico's shoulders. He chuckled and leaned back into Will's shoulder. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say."

"I could be more romantic if you want me to."

"You're a dork."

"I'm your dork."

Nico smiled softly up at him, and Will smiled back.

A loud whoop! cut through the air, shattering the moment.

Over by the hearth in the center of the common, Percy was grinning at something Annabeth had just told him. Annabeth laughed and playfully slapped his arm.

"What are those two yelling about?" Nico grumbled.

"I don't know. You want to go find out?" Will asked.

"Sure."

"Okay."

Nico yelped as Will swept him up bridal style. "Put me down!"

"No way." Will started walking towards Percy and Annabeth. Nico groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Hey, guys," Percy greeted. "Annabeth just told me some good news. Sorry if I got a little loud. What's up with Nico?"

"He's being a butt." Will carefully set Nico down. He glared at his boyfriend and dusted himself off.

"We're going to spend our junior and senior years together," Annabeth explained, "here in New York. And after graduation-"

"College in New Rome!" Percy pumped his fist like he was blowing a truck horn. "Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no boring prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California-and my mom and Paul, if it can be arranged. It would be nice to treat them to a trip to California, after the past year."

"And after that..." Annabeth kissed Percy on the cheek. "Well, Reyna and Frank said we could live in New Rome as long as we like."

"That's great!" Nico said. He meant it. "New Rome is pretty great. I wouldn't mind living there some day."

"New Rome sounds pretty great. Hey, Nico, maybe when you're all better we can check it out." Will elbowed Nico. "Speaking of which..."

"Don't remind me."

"What?" Percy frowned at them.

"I have to stay in the infirmary for three days, according to Will's rules," Nico explained.

"I was going to say five years, but I decided to show mercy."

"Since when have you ever shown me mercy?"

"You two bicker like an old married couple," Percy commented.

"Uh..." Will glanced from Percy to Nico.

"Wait, did you guys finally start going out? I've been waiting for you guys to start dating since that night after the first Titan War ended!" Percy fistpumped the air.

"Actually, we have been dating since then. We just never made it public," Nico admitted.

Percy stared at them. "Oh. Are you making it public now, or is it still secret? Shit, I wasn't supposed to know about this, was I?"

"Only a few people know about us being a thing. We're not going to come out to everyone," Will said.

"I wanted it secret in the first place. I still want it secret, but..." Nico thought back on the people who discovered his relationship, one by one. Will's siblings had really been the ones to initiate it. Annabeth had let him know immediately she would support him. Jason had been sort of awkward, but he was accepting and even assured Nico that nobody else would judge him. Reyna had seemed frosty at first, but assured Nico that she supported it wholeheartedly. Lou Ellen and Cecil didn't even question it. In fact, Lou Ellen had even mentioned later on that she had a girlfriend-someone named Miranda from the Demeter cabin.

Nobody had made fun of him for his relationship, or threatened to kill him. They had all offered their support instead, and Nico had even found out about other same-sex relationships. It was way different from the past, where only Bianca knew and nobody else did. It felt good. It made Nico feel like a person, a real human being.

"Like my boyfriend said, not everybody. But I'm willing to start with just a few people at a time," Nico decided.

"I would kiss you right now, but that would be awkward," Will decided.

"Later," Nico promised.

"Yeah, it'd be better to start off slowly," Percy agreed. "Doing everyone all at once would be overload."

"Yup. Now, I need to take Nico to the infirmary." Will offered Nico his hand. "You ready to go?"

Nico took it, and waved goodbye to Percy and Annabeth as he walked away with Will. They waved back, grinning.

 **XIII.**

Nico couldn't sleep.

It was the first night of the three days he had promised. Will had given him a private room, away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the infirmary. He was grateful for that. He didn't want to be near any of the other patients.

The room had also been power-proofed, so that Nico's powers didn't work. That way he couldn't feel the life force of anyone in the infirmary, especially the ones that were ebbing away.

Will left him there earlier, returning a few hours later with dinner. Both of them ate in silence punctuated by a few sentences. Will had to go after that, and he gave Nico a kiss on the forehead with the promise that he would return later.

Nighttime had fallen a long time ago, and Nico had no idea what time it was now. All he knew was that it was dark outside, and only the light of the torches on the outer infirmary walls slipped through the cracks of the blinds into his room.

Dark shadows were everywhere, unmoving but still eerie. Although Nico had nothing to be afraid of, he was still unnerved. Memories flitted in the back of his mind-memories he'd rather soon forget, of Tartarus and the horrors he had seen. There was no way that Nico could fall asleep with those in his mind. Especially those of the nightmares that he had.

A rapping came from the door, causing Nico to jump. "Who's there?!" he yelped.

"It's me." The door creaked open and Will stuck his head into the room, his face barely illuminated by the corridor lights. Nico could feel his body relax. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, you just-you scared me."

"Okay then." Will shut the door behind him as he walked into the room, instantly flooding it again with darkness.

"What are you doing here?"

"Told you I'd come back, wouldn't I?"

"But it's late, and I can hardly see you." Nico squinted in the direction of Will's voice.

"Oh, right." A small golden light appeared in the darkness, steadily growing bigger and bigger in Will's hands. He gently lifted it up, and it floated above Nico's bed. "Better?"

"Thank you."

Will smiled and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

Nico's eyes glanced around the room. The light caused most of the shadows to go away, but the memories still lingered in his mind. He felt awkward and confused, unsure of what to do-like he had back in the pit.

After a few minutes, Will sighed and hung his head down. "I should've been with you."

Nico's face scrunched up in confusion. "What?"

"In Tartarus. I should've been there with you."

Just the mention of the place sent chills down Nico's spine. "Will, no."

"I should've," Will muttered.

"No." Nico scooted over until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, legs dangling over the side. He took Will's hands into his. "You wouldn't ever want to be."

"Someone should have been there with you. I've heard stories about it, Nico. I was so scared for you. So, so scared. I even saw it in my dreams after I heard you-you-" A tear slid down Will's face, and a stifled sob left his mouth.

"Hey, it's alright," Nico soothed, rubbing comforting circles into Will's hand with his thumb. "I'm here now, I'm safe."

"You were fight-fighting so many monsters. So many. You died so many times in my dreams, but you always came back. It was-It was terrifying."

"Shhhhh."

The memories of Tartarus came flickering back, stronger than ever, but Nico pushed them back again. Will needed him right now.

"I should have been there to help you. You needed someone there with you-"

"No, Will!" Nico snapped. Will's head jerked up, blinking away tears. "Don't say that!"

"But-"

"You should _never_ want to go to Tartarus. _Never_." The memories raced back to Nico as the words poured out of his mouth like poison. "I felt like I was dying so many times down there. Percy and Annabeth were lucky to get an edited version of it. I saw the true horror-his heart, pulsing sickeningly as the rivers fed into it. I saw his veins, lit with the different colors of the rivers, throbbing menacingly. I saw the pimples on his skin, the monsters that burst out of them again and again and again. I saw his body for what it really was. I saw his true horror. I wouldn't wish it on anyone-even my worst enemies. Not even an edited version of it."

"Nico-"

Nico realized that he was shaking, but he couldn't stop talking. "It was hell, Will. Whatever horrors you can stir up from the Fields of Punishment were nothing compared to him. He wanted to strike fear in the hearts of whoever found their way down there, even the monsters. He's hell-he's fucking hell. There's nothing that can compare to him. I've relived what I saw so many times that I might as well be numb to it. But I'm not. I'm fucking not."

"Nico, please, I didn't mean-"

"I know, Will!" Nico yelled. "I know that you didn't goddamn mean it! I know! But I saw you in my dreams too-and you never came back! I saw you _die_ down there! I don't want you to even think about going in there, even if you want to be with me. He was already hell, and if you went down there it'd be even worse! Don't go there! Please!"

"Nico…you're crying."

Nico didn't even realize that he had started crying until Will pointed it out. He gingerly touched a finger to his cheek, and it came away wet. He let go of Will's hands to bury his face in his.

"I'm so sorry, Nico. I didn't realize what I said was having such a big effect on you." The bed sagged down as Will sat next to Nico and wrapped his arms around him. Nico buried his face in Will's chest and let out all of the tears that had built up over the past few months.

"I just thought-I just wanted to help you, Nico. That's all I wanted to do this summer. It was hell without you. Not the hell that you went through, but a similar one. I was so scared for you when you disappeared, especially when the nightmares started. I lived for when we Iris-Messaged, because it meant that you were alive. When you didn't, the fear came back. Seeing you appear on the hill was the most beautiful thing that I saw this summer."

Nico's shoulder shook as he tried to calm himself down. "I-I thought of you-down there," he croaked out.

"Really?"

He nodded against Will's chest. "You-You kept me going. I knew I couldn't leave you. I couldn't bear to think-to think of you alone, not knowing what happened to me. I had to keep going. I-I had to. I couldn't just let myself die there. I knew you would want me to keep trying. I put one foot in front of the other-for you. I just couldn't-" A fresh wave of tears began to build up, and Nico squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hey," Will cooed, gently lifting up Nico's head and wiping away the tears under his eye. "I'm glad I meant so much to you, for me to inspire you like that." He paused. "I had no idea I could mean so much to anyone."

"Of course you do, Will! I love you!"

The room went silent as Nico realized what he said, and Will's mouth formed a perfect _o_. "What?"

"I-oh, shit-" Nico felt paralyzed. He didn't know how to respond-he didn't mean to say that! Will would want to break up now, he wouldn't be able to reciprocate his feelings-

A gentle kiss on Nico's forehead startled Nico out of his thoughts. "I love you too, Nico," Will whispered, leaning back.

"Really?" he whispered back, different feelings pulsing through his veins.

"Yeah, really. I really love you, Nico."

"I…" Could he even say it a second time? Nico swallowed hard and forced his lips to open. "Then I really love you too."

"I'm just disappointed that I didn't get to say it first."

Nico giggled. "Really?"

"Yeah. Well, if either of us had to say it, I'm glad it was you."

He could feel his cheeks turn pink, but fortunately a huge yawn managed to cover that up.

"You're tired, huh?" Will asked.

"Yes."

"I guess I'll leave you then." Will pushed himself off the bed. Even though Nico's fears had been comforted just moments before, they rushed back through him, and he found himself leaning forward to grab Will's hand. "Stay with me."

Will froze. "What?"

"St-Stay with me, for the night?"

After a heavy pause, Will nodded. "Sure. Just let me take off my binder."

Nico turned around to give him privacy. "You wore it all day?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said you could only wear it for eight hours."

"Normal ones." There was rustling behind Nico. "Some of us in Apollo's cabin are working on binders you can wear longer."

"Do they work?"

"We're still testing them." Will grunted. "Shit, this is hard to pull off."

"Do you need help?"

"No, no, I've got it."

"Alright. So the binder isn't hurting you at all?"

"Don't worry about me. I've been wearing the new one for a week and it feels better than the old ones. It even tells you when you need to take it off."

"How?"

"It beeps."

"Wouldn't it be weird if you're talking with someone and suddenly there's random beeping?"

"We're still working on it."

"Good."

Something fell onto the floor. "Ah, better."

"You done?"

"Hang on…yeah, I am." Footsteps thumped against the ground. Will sat next to Nico on the bed again and kicked off his flip-flops.

"Good." Nico lifted up the covers of the bed and gestured for Will to get in. He silently climbed into them, and Nico got in after him. Will clapped his hands and the floating light above them disappeared. The shadows reappeared, but Nico felt less scared of them, now that Will was with him.

"You alright?" Will whispered into the darkness, his warm breath right across from Nico.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm alright."

Nico snuggled closer to Will. "I love you, Will."

"I love you too, Nico."

Nico scooted closer until he could put his mouth on Will's, and gave him a long and tender kiss that Will responded too. "Good night."

"Good night."

Nico smiled as he closed his eyes, feeling truly relaxed for the first time in weeks.

For once, no nightmares plagued his dreams.

* * *

 **Hey guys, it's Taylor/TailsDoll13! After months of inactivity I return to the Percy Jackson section!**

 **I originally started writing this way back in March for my friend Stormy's (kiohne on tumblr) birthday. It ended up getting out of hand and nearly six months later this is the longest one-shot I have posted to date.**

 **I'm so sorry for giving you the latest birthday present you will ever receive my friend.**

 **Speaking of my friends, thank you once again to Kari and Ghosty for sending me ideas for this AU when I posted about it on Tumblr, Elizabeth for being a fantastic writer who inspires me to write more, and Mansi for having gorgeous art that motivated me to finish this! I love all of you guys so much.**

 **Yes, I do view Will as bisexual and a transboy (I also view him as autistic, but I couldn't find a really good place to work that into the story). I hope nobody has a problem with it. I'm genderqueer myself, so I really wanted to add more representation.**

 **If my penname sounds a little familiar I wrote "How Not to Get Your OTP Together." I've written a ton of other fics too. My most recent uploads are mainly Homestuck, but I'm planning on writing more Percy Jackson.**

 **My Tumblr is autisticwillsolace (Yes, I am autistic). I'm mostly fandom with social justice and a bit of aesthetic. My main fandoms are Homestuck, Percy Jackson, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. I post a lot of others though.**

 **You can also find this fic at ArchiveOfOurOwn under my penname Gamzee_Makaraoni!**

 **I hope to see you later with my future fics!**

 **-Taylor**


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